Presented by the European Commission as a “model” of good management, Directive 2000/60/CE lays down a framework for Community policy in the field of water. It is based on the principle that water is not a commercial good like any other, but is rather a heritage that must be defended and protected, and on the acknowledgement that the resource is increasingly subject in the EU to constraints because of a continuous growth in demand.

The directive covers inland surface waters, groundwaters, transitional waters and coastal waters. It aims to prevent and reduce pollution, promote sustainable use, improve the status of aquatic ecosystems and mitigate the effects of floods and droughts. In order to do this, member states must develop an integrated policy or, in other words, develop a management system that draws on the actions, means and players covered by the different sector policies (industry, agriculture, nature conservation).

DG Environment will review the status of implementing this directive with interested parties during the second European Water Conference that it is organising, on 2 and 3 April in Brussels (Information: ewc2009@eurokeys.com).

GOOD ECOLOGICAL STATUS

Under the directive, member states must, by 22 December 2015, achieve good ecological and chemical status of surface waters; obtain good ecological potential and good chemical status for artificial bodies of water and heavily modified bodies of water; obtain good quantitative and chemical status for groundwaters and, finally, ensure compliance with all the standards and objectives for protected areas. A temporary deterioration in a body of water does not, however, constitute an infraction of the directive if it is a result of exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances linked to an accident, a natural cause or a case of force majeure.

The directive also proposes a strategy to eliminate pollution caused by dangerous substances. A list of priority polluting substances that are a high risk for or via the aquatic environment has been drawn up for this purpose (Annex X) ⁽¹⁾. It classifies in order of priority the substances for which quality standards and measures to reduce emissions are fixed at Community level.

Finally, member states must, by applying the ‘polluter pays’ principle, set up systems of “effective, proportional and dissuasive sanctions” for violations of the directive.

RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT

The central idea of the directive lies in the organisation and management of water in river basins and districts. These encompass the whole of the river basin network as well as the area of drained territory and the estuaries, which includes groundwaters, open sea and areas associated with them. River basins that stretch across the territory of more than one state are integrated within an international river basin district. Each country must assign an authority for the part of the river basin situated on its territory, and, in the case of an international district, also a coordinating body to ensure the management plan for each river basin district is properly managed.

Member states must carry out an analysis of the characteristics of each river basin, a study of the impact of human activity on the waters, an economic analysis of their use and create a register of areas that need special protection. All bodies of water used for abstraction for human consumption, providing more than 10m ³ a day or serving more than 50 people, must be identified. They must develop, between now and the end of 2009, a management plan and a programme of measures for each river basin district. These plans must aim to prevent the deterioration, improve and restore the status of surface waters, achieve good chemical and ecological status and reduce pollution from the discharge of dangerous substances. They must also protect, improve and restore groundwaters, prevent their pollution, ensure a balance between abstraction and their renewal and finally preserve the protected areas.

INTEGRATING COSTS

The directive emphasises the “careful and rational” use of water resources. This is one reason for having the principle of recuperating the costs of the services linked to water use. In this regard, member states must make sure between now and 2010 not only that the water pricing policy encourages users to use resources efficiently but also that the different economic sectors contribute in an appropriate way to recouping the service costs of water. But they can take into account the social, environmental and economic effects of recuperation as well as the geographic and climate conditions of the region concerned.

Background

Framework Directive 2000/60/CE brings together into a single text seven former directives. Three of them were revoked in December 2007: the directives and decisions relating to the quality of surface fresh water aimed at producing drinking water (75/440/CEE, 79/869/CEE and Decision 77/795/CEE).

The following will be revoked in December 2013:

- the directive relating to the quality of fresh water needing to be protected so as to be suitable for fish life (78/659/CEE)

- the directive relating to the quality required of shellfish waters (2006/113/CE), the directive relating to protecting groundwaters from pollution caused by the discharge of certain dangerous substances into the aquatic environment.

Remaining outside of the framework directive, the directives protecting waters from nitrates from agricultural sources on (91/676/CEE); treatment of urban waste water (91/271/CEE) and the management of the quality of bathing waters (2006/7/CE).

⁽¹⁾ Decision 2455/2001/CE